Wednesday, 21 May 2014

Picture this: You're
stepping off the bus to walk to University. It's a cloudless day, a soft breeze
caresses your face gently and draws a smile upon it, and a strong feeling that
it's going to be a pretty good day builds up so quickly it almost seems
unbeatable. That's when your senses burst to life and reality hits home. The
smell of grilled, juice-dripping chicken sitting idly on top of a crisp, fresh
salad forces your head to look left at Spuntino. That's all right. Just a
slight effort of resisting temptation and you keep on moving forward because
nothing, nothing, is going to beat this glorious day! Then... mmmm.....
perfectly cooked dough heavily sprinkled with layers of stretching mozzarella
and all other sorts of ingredients. You ignore this, or at least pretend to,
because you can't help but stare longingly at the people sitting at the tables
eating pizzas. No need to worry. All that comes next are the out-of-this-world
Turkish kebabs, and the smell of burgers and salted fries. [Ignore this,
Noelene, ignore this.] You turn the final corner and you think that the worst
is all behind you because all that remains now in the street are some stationeries.
The smile starts creeping up again, slowly and cautiously. And before you know
it you've fallen right in the trap. The aroma of melted chocolate and strong
coffee jumps on you, catching you off guard from the Kreperie. You actually
close your eyes to savour the smell and remember that 4 pieces of sandwich with
2 pieces of salami is all that you've got to eat in the next six hours or so:
breakfast and lunch, all in one! Awesome.

Throughout the 1.21
challenge that I've decided to initially do for 15 days, this has been the test
for me: the exaggerated amount and variety of foods that I incessantly see
around me. People keep on consuming and consuming and yet, there is still a
large amount of food that goes to waste. On the other hand, 1.2 billion people
around the world live below the poverty line. Does that stir anything in you?
If yes, do something about it. Donate money to any charity or just notice
homeless people. Acknowledging them and exchanging a smile is a pretty good
start. And if you feel nothing, well, then you've gotta see someone mate.

In these ten days, I've
given in twice to temptation. The first time, was two days ago. Alone at home,
trying to work on an assignment and the presence of food growing behind me. I
snapped, opened the cupboard and attacked a can of caponata. The second time
was, in fact, today while studying with friends at University. I gave in to a
piece of pizza, a kinder bueno and a bottle of Pepsi. Yup, that's €3.50. Which
means that someone uses that amount of money to live on for three days. It also
means that I have to pay the price and extend the 15 days to 18. I haven't
always spent 1.21 each day so the extra money I've 'saved' up went on the
caponata. On the rest of the days, I've normally eaten a ftira or 4 pieces of
sandwich or ciabata for lunch and breakfast and then, in the evening, a plate of pasta, or a fish finger with an egg
or thrown something similar on the plate.

That's why I decided
to do this 1.21 challenge. To get a feeling of what it's like to live on 1.21
each day for just a small period of time. Even more so, whilst some of these
1.2 billion people don't have a roof over their heads, a family, a job or an
education, I have a home and am still studying. So, no, I don't know what it's
really like to live below the poverty line. I don't know how people manage to
do that for days on end, all for the sake of survival and hope for a better
life. I've donated €40 to Amplify and hoped to collect at least €500 so that a
medical centre in a poor region in Cambodia can keep on helping its patients,
children, men, women and people with disabilities alike. I still have eight more days
to collect that 500, so do help out if you want to, please. After all, where's
the harm in helping strangers?

Friday, 16 May 2014

By Steve Hili

Today is the last day of the challenge. We're only a few hours away from getting back
into our 'normal' routines.

First of all I would like to say well done to all of those
taking part. And thank you to all of those who supported us. The medical centre
looks like it can be funded for over a year thanks to the wonderful donations. But if anyone wants to give us a bit more
PLEASE DO - www.betternow.org/mt/121challenge

People said that we would survive and we knew of course that
we would. After all 1.2 billion people
survive under the poverty line every single day.

But for those people who think that living like this would
not really impact them much, I invite them to try it. Just an experiment. Personally
I thought it would be a bit easier.

Here a just a few random thoughts as we round up the week

Buying everything and
working things out was exhausting. And also needing to portion things out
was a real pain. It really was not easy.

There was a lot of time
where we were actually hungry. Not starving but hungry and head-achy. When
the portions of food were simply not enough.

I was lethargic for a lot
of this week. I had hardly no energy yesterday and could not concentrate
on some essential work that I needed to get done.

Drinking tap water really
got me down for some reason. It really put me in a mood.

But here we are. Friday morning!

Today we've got oats for brekkie (again) Egg sandwich for
lunch (again) and a baked potato or two for dinner. There might be an extra potato to be eaten
today too. Happy days!

And at midnight it will all be over.

For us that is. Not for the 1.2 billion.

When you think of it like that, it is embarrassing to think
that I dared moan this week.

We hope we have made a tiny difference this week. And we hope
that we have got a few more people talking about poverty.

I feel proud. We did something. Something small. But for us
at least it was not insignificant.

But as we congratulate ourselves (as we should) let's not
forget those who will still be living in and around the poverty line tomorrow.
And the day after. For them the
challenge continues.

Wednesday, 14 May 2014

By Kathryn Baldacchino

So here we are with only two days left of the 121 Challenge. I have to admit that I underestimated how difficult it would be.

I think I'm missing my cup of coffees through the day the most, as I'm feeling utterly lethargic. The water has been a real struggle, and so has the volume of food. I would say I'm an average to big eater on a normal day, therefore having smaller portion sizes of food that isn't that nutritionally packed with goodness has been a struggle and I'm physically feeling run down because of it.

Yesterday's rice wasn't so bad, the evaporated milk made it palatable, but I'm not looking forward to finishing off the pasta we made the other night as that was not very nice.

Sarcastic grin at pasta with thin red sauce

I'm really really pleased to see the donations coming in - we've exceeded €2300.00 this morning, and we've also been given a few hundred in cash which is not on the website. Things are looking really good and at this rate there is a good chance we will manage to support the medical center for a whole year.

I'm also really appreciating the support we're receiving from many quarters, and from people we've never met before. People's generosity astounds me, especially considering that this fundraiser is for a Cambodian NGO most people had never heard of, and to support people that most people will never meet. Of course I am also aware of the hardship and poverty that exist near us all every day in Malta, and I hope that some of the generosity will also extend to them. I have always supported YMCA whenever I
can and encourage others to do the same. We're not supporting an NGO in Cambodia to the exclusion of being aware of poverty issues in Malta. I hope that by raising awareness of poverty in general we are also highlighting the situation in Malta.

Monday, 12 May 2014

By Steve Hili

And I am starving. And in a bit of a bad mood. (I get like
that when I am hungry).

We bought everything on Saturday and actually came in 3c
under budget which was quite incredible.
And after a hearty meal last night, it was time to jump right in.

Food today was oats for brekkie, and an egg sandwich for
lunch. We had pasta with a very weak
tomato sauce for dinner. We bought a big packet of pasta so we should get
another dinner out of it. And possibly something to bulk up the lunches.

And we managed to fit in a small packet of raisins to our
budget so we are adding a couple to everything!

The worse part of the day was the tap water for me. Urgh.
And finishing dinner and still being hungry.

Also having to work everything out. I have learnt of people
who live like this (even here in Malta) everyday. Figuring it all out must be
exhausting.

I think today was the worst day. First days always are
right? Also for some reason I was so excited about the challenge I hardly slept
last night.

Tuesday will be...interesting. I am performing in the
evening (a stand -up gig) and I am usually quite high energy but this evening I feel like I
can hardly move!

Saturday, 10 May 2014

The challenge looms! On Sunday night we will be eating our last 'proper' meal and going to bed before waking up to face 5 days of trying to balance around the poverty line.

The reaction to the challenge has been interesting. The vast majority of people seem to understand what we are trying to do, others seem to take a perverse pleasure in sending me pictures of strawberry cheesecake (!), and a couple of people have said to me - you'll survive on that.

You'll survive on that.

Of course we will. 1.2 billion people survive below the poverty line every day. The point is not to starve to death, the point is that life has to go on.

We are trying to live on 1.21€. Not die. I have got stand-up gigs to do. I have got radio shows to present and produce. Other participants have got to do their respective jobs, kids have got to go to school. Conferences need to be attended. Business decisions need to be made. (Not by me though so rest assured!)

It is an experiment - live our life in this way for 5 days. Just to get a small taster (bad choice of word?) of what it would be like.

We are doing this (as well as trying to raise funds to support the incredible work our medical centre is doing in Cambodia) to raise a bit of awareness about a global situation.

And of course we are lucky. We are choosing to do this. Other people have no choice. Other people need to live like this every single day. Not only that but from their tiny amount of money they need to factor in other costs. Medicines. Transport. Heating.

On Saturday 17th May when it is all over, we'll be stuffing ourselves, eating whatever we want. They won't. For them the challenge continues.

Wednesday, 7 May 2014

We have more children then anticipated doing the 1.21 challenge with the youngest being only 5 years old - I've been told they have been primed and willing to participate in our challenge. However I
am sure there will come a time during the 5 days that we will have some unhappy children.

For many of us parents depriving our children of any food whims or wants goes against our grain. As parents we want and like to see our kids eating well and healthily - we are satisfied when they
return an empty plate. Never is the fruit bowl empty and we would never say no to a request for an extra apple or banana!

But what if your child was always hungry - what if all you could offer your growing child was rice, cheap carbohydrates and processed food?

Whilst doing research for this challenge my friends and I have concluded that healthy fresh food costs money and needs time to prepare - commodities that are not available when living on the
bread line. (Bread line means you're poor, your income is so low you barely have enough money to buy basic food) AMAZINGLY enough this applies to over half the worlds population.

The reason my friends and I have only just made this conclusion is because we have never had to worry about the price of food - we just pick a recipe and buy what we want - our children have never
gone with out and although no-one likes to waste food we're not worried about not having enough for tomorrow.

But next week we are eating on the poverty line AND we haven't stopped thinking
about how we're going to manage and feed our kids for 5 days - imagine having this daily burden - How do these people cope.
This challenge is indeed thought provoking!
Please donate on : https://www.betternow.org/mt/121challenge

What are we doing?

The 121 challenge was inspired by the global Live Below the Line movement and is being led locally by the NGO Amplify. This challenge aims to bring into focus some of the experiences of the 1.2 billion people around the world who live in extreme poverty.
At the same time the Amplify team aims to collect funds to continue to support a medical centre which the group set up in Cambodia in 2008 and which continues to transform the lives of some of the poorest people in the world.
You can support us by donating on https://www.betternow.org/mt/amplify and follow our progress on this blog.
Amplify set up a Medical Centre in Kampot, Cambodia back in 2008/9. This centre has now been running for a number of years, providing free consultation and medicine for, amongst others new mothers, children and young people with disabilities. The centre is doing great work but still needs some assistance as it strives to become more sustainable. We hope to be able to support it through funds raised during the 121 Challenge! PLEASE BE GENEROUS!

Donating to the cause

Alternatively, you can transfer directly into our Maltese bank account. The details are:

Name: Amplify

Bank: Bank of Valletta (BOV)

Account Number: 40019682783

IBAN: MT26VALL22013000000040019682783

Please write 121challenge in the description.

Who are we?

Amplify is a Malta-based NGO working in Malta & around the world. It promotes sustainability & empowerment through development.

For us, respect & partnerships are the cornerstones of any development work. Long-term volunteering really opened our eyes to the fact that we do not have all the answers to the ills of the world which fuels our focus on working with locally-based partners on projects that they themselves identify.

Following a need identified by a Cambodian partner organisation, supporters raised funds for a medical clinic to be built in Southern Cambodia. This is run by Amplify’s Cambodian partner organisation & provides support to people with intellectual & physical disabilities as well as people affected by poverty in the region.

Members of Amplify also went to Namibia as the first ever Maltese VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) volunteers. Whilst there, they were supported in a number of projects by other Amplify supporters. These projects included fund raising to purchase custom-made wheelchairs for people living in remote areas of the country & establishing a website for an association that works to achieve access to justice for people around Namibia.